HELENA — Montana saw a 153 percent increase in intimate partner homicides in 2015-2016, a state panel was told Monday.

The number of intimate partner-homicide deaths rose in the previous biennium from 17 deaths in 12 incidents to 43 deaths in 26 incidents as of Dec. 31, 2016, according to a report by the Montana Domestic Violence Fatality Review Commission that was discussed by the state Law and Justice Interim Committee.

Matthew Dale, coordinator for the commission, said it was the largest increase in the 16 years the commission has been tracking such deaths in Montana.

“All of us are driven to do better,” he stated in his report.

The total since 2000 now stands at 187, Dale said, adding there has been a decrease in 2017 in such deaths.

“It’s nice to hear we are making progress,” said Sen. Diane Sands, D-Missoula, committee chair. She added these types of deaths were something the Legislature has been concerned about for years.

The Montana Domestic Violence Fatality Review Commission was created by the 2003 state Legislature and must make a biennial report to the law and justice committee.
Intimate Partner Homicides are deaths in which the people involved have been living together or have children together, Dale said. People who have dating relationships are not included.

Sen. Diane Sands, D-Missoula(Photo: Courtesy)

The report, which relied on information since 2000, noticed some cultural differences. For example, statewide, firearms were used in 75 percent of the deaths and the deaths were committed by males.

And the report stated that when a gun is present in the home it increases the danger of homicide for women by 500 percent.

In the Native American deaths, females were the killers 60 percent of the time, and they used a knife in 70 percent of their homicides, according to the report.

Non-native females used a knife 11 percent of the time.

Dale said Native Americans are 7 percent of the population but are responsible but are victims for about 11 percent of the intimate-partner deaths.

“This has been a difficult biennium in Indian Country as well,” Dale said. “The number of killings continues to be disproportionate to our state’s population.”

He said Attorney General Tim Fox created a team three years ago to look at these deaths, and Montana has received national and international attention for its victim-centered reviews and work with Native American partners.

Dale said he could not offer an explanation as to why the deaths overall were increasing.

Montana Attorney General Tim Fox(Photo: Courtesy)

But he did note that medical and law enforcement investigations were getting better so that some of deaths that at one time were thought to be accidental were intentional.

The report states 11 of the deaths since 2000 occurred in Great Falls. There was one each in Chester and Conrad, two in Havre and three in Browning.

Overall, substance abuse was a significant factor in the majority of the killings, 80 percent of the deaths occurred west of Billings, and four of the seven reservations reported no Intimate Partner Homicides, the report stated.

And there were seven familicides, in which a spouse and one or more children are killed, across the state resulting in the deaths of 11 children, with none of the deaths occurring in Indian Country.

The age range of victims shows that 31 percent were 40-49 years old, about 29 percent were 30-39 and 11 percent were under 18.

Overall recommendations include having the state use technology to improve and expand the victim notification program.

The state is urged to continue training and collaboration between the Montana Department of Justice, Bureau of Indian Affairs, the U.S. Attorneys Office and the Montana-Wyoming Tribal Judges Association.

The report suggests increasing the reimbursement rate for funeral expenses, adding that $3,500 figure has not been raised since 1995 and places a financial burden on families of those killed in intimate partner homicides.

Also, the report recommends that mental health professionals should be screening for domestic violence.

The panel also recommends integrating work of suicide fatality review team with the domestic violence fatality review teams and start a child death review team.

Dale said the Domestic Violence Fatality Review Commission will decide which recommendations to pursue.